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UN Concerned Over Expected Demolition of West Bank Village

by Associated Press

   JERUSALEM --

   The U.N.'s main human rights body expressed concern on Tuesday over
   Israel's expected demolition of a Bedouin hamlet in the West Bank,
   which critics say is being carried out to make room for more Jewish
   settlements.

   The Bedouin village of Khan al-Ahmar, outside the Kfar Adumim
   settlement, is set to be demolished at an unknown date after Israel's
   Supreme Court approved the move in May. Israel agreed to resettle the
   residents in an area some 12 kilometers (seven miles) away.

   Israel says the structures that make up the encampment, which include
   an Italian-funded school, were illegally built and pose a threat to
   residents because of their proximity to a highway. But critics say it
   is nearly impossible to get a construction permit from Israel, and that
   the village's demolition and the removal of its 180 or so residents is
   a ploy to clear the way for new Jewish settlements.

   In a statement, a spokeswoman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Human
   Rights called on Israel to abandon the demolition plans and said the
   destruction of private property by an occupying power violated
   international law.

   "We call on the Israeli authorities not to proceed with the demolition
   of (Khan al Ahmar), to respect the rights of residents to remain on
   their land and have their status regularized," the spokeswoman, Liz
   Throssell, said.

   The West Bank's Arab Bedouin are a small, impoverished minority among
   the broader Palestinian population. Like many other Bedouin
   encampments, residents of Khan al-Ahmar live in corrugated shacks or
   tents, often without electricity or running water, and raise livestock.

   Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon declined to
   comment.

   The village is located in the 60 percent of the West Bank known as Area
   C, which remains under exclusive Israeli control and is home to dozens
   of Israeli settlements. Israel places severe restrictions on
   Palestinian development in Area C, and home demolitions there are not
   unusual.

   Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem in the
   1967 Mideast war. As part of interim peace deals in the 1990s, the West
   Bank was carved up into autonomous and semi-autonomous Palestinian
   areas, known as Areas A and B, and Area C, which is home to some
   400,000 Israeli settlers.

   The Palestinians seek all of the territories captured by Israel in 1967
   for a future independent state. They say that Area C, home to an
   estimated 150,000 to 200,000 Palestinians, is crucial to a future
   Palestine's economic development.

   J Street, a liberal pro-Israel group in the U.S, submitted a petition
   against the demolition signed by 7,000 people to the Israeli Embassy in
   Washington. It said the demolition would have far-reaching effects.

   "Beyond the devastation it would create for Khan al-Ahmar's residents,
   the demolition would also strike a major blow to prospects for a
   two-state solution and a peaceful future for Israelis and
   Palestinians," it said.